The HfP chat thread – Friday 2nd April

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• The real John says:

  2 Apr2 April 11:24

  Withdrawing my Ernie for the first time ready to fill up ISA and SIPP. Won a big fat zero with average balance of £20k over the past year. Looks like my luck is 3 or 4 SDs below the average.

  • Chrisasaurus says:

    2 Apr2 April 11:48

    Large 4 figures held for most of a decade some years ago and one x £25 prize…

    Also two years of lotto when it launched without even a tenner!

    Don’t follow my stock picks folks…

  • Harry T says:

    2 Apr2 April 11:57

    I thought the only real attraction of actually buying and holding premium bonds was to find a tax efficient place to keep your cash if you’re an additional rate taxpayer?

    • Louie says:

      2 Apr2 April 12:20

      What would you prefer? Paying tax on some interest or paying no tax on no winnings?!

      Without wanting to tempt fate, it seems I’ve been winning everyone else’s share of the Premium Bonds then as I’ve won every month recently, definitely averaging more than the real rate Rob calculated (excluding the higher wins). Long may it continue….

      @theRealJohn – were you churning? The bonds need to have been held a while before they qualify for the draw. I think maybe they go in the draw-after-next after you buy them so if you buy and then cash in frequently, they’ll never even make it to the draw.

      • Genghis says:

        2 Apr2 April 12:26

        “ Withdrawing… for the first time”

        • Louie says:

          2 Apr2 April 12:44

          Oops. I must learn to read.

      • Doug M says:

        2 Apr2 April 14:01

        I prefer paying no tax on no winnings. Trivial amounts of interest are a real pain on a tax return. Chasing certificates or adding up pennies to include another amount which turns out to be £6.31 or something is a pain.

    • Matt says:

      2 Apr2 April 12:36

      @Harry T. The “expected” prize rate is still competitive and I can’t be the only higher rate taxpayer who has maxed out their personal savings allowance. Circumstances change the whole time but I find PBs have a use beyond MS.

      • Sandra says:

        2 Apr2 April 13:00

        Our daughter holds around £800 in bonds bought as she’s been growing up and about once a year wins £25 and has done for the last 7 or 8 years, she’s never won anything higher. Her older brother held roughly the same amount and, much to his annoyance, never won a penny so he cashed most of his in to go travelling in the days when you could 😂 I know it’s random but it doesn’t seem so to those that have no luck!

        • The real John says:

          2 Apr2 April 13:05

          https://premiumbondsprizes.com/#800

          You would be very lucky to win £25 every year with £800 of PBs. (Someone on reddit made this. Not me)

      • Rob says:

        2 Apr2 April 14:16

        You’d be mad not to max out £50k if you are a higher rate taxpayer who already hits their tax free interest allowance.

        • Sandra says:

          2 Apr2 April 14:59

          @The real John, when I say once a year it might be 18 months between them say Feb one year then late year after, but she has also actually won in 2 consecutive August’s which is when her birthday is so yes, she is very lucky! Nothing in 2020 though so maybe her luck has run out which is a shame as we were hoping it would get her a Euromillions rollover jackpot one day soon!

• BJ says:

  2 Apr2 April 12:39

  Got a call from a lady at Virgin and received a mild lecture, but no action, for gaming the system! So, be warned, they do notice things.

  • Harry T says:

    2 Apr2 April 12:50

    Virgin credit card?

  • AndyW says:

    2 Apr2 April 13:33

    For what?

  • Daniel says:

    2 Apr2 April 13:36

    Please share…

  • Memesweeper says:

    2 Apr2 April 14:44

    Gaming how? MS? Multiple applications?

  • Dave says:

    2 Apr2 April 17:45

    Its over, no MS now

  • Lord Doncaster says:

    2 Apr2 April 17:52

    Sending money round in circles probably…🙄

• Alan says:

  2 Apr2 April 12:39

  I am about to make a fairly large purchase from JL using JL’s gift vouchers. Is there any way of stacking this with Avios or Virgin points.

  • Paul Pogba says:

    2 Apr2 April 13:28

    Ive had the BA shopping portal track and payout on gift voucher transactions which I don’t think are technically eligible. I would use a browser without any ad or tracker blocking software installed so you don’t have to make a manual claim.

    • A says:

      2 Apr2 April 14:14

      Same. Always had waitrose vochers used at JL online via the BA portal track

    • Harry T says:

      2 Apr2 April 14:39

      Virgin store may also work or Voldeportal. I did post a reply earlier but think I posted some words the system didn’t like.

    • Alan says:

      2 Apr2 April 18:19

      Thank you, I will give it a go.

  • Memesweeper says:

    2 Apr2 April 14:46

    If you want to keep your miles and then spend them, use Virgin or maybe Avios.com. BA is unreliable and very keen on random claw backs.

    • Paul Pogba says:

      2 Apr2 April 15:12

      I had my first clawback on BA shopping, it was on a clothes order where I returned one of many items. Everything else has worked albeit often requiring manual claims, but my use of adblockers is probably to blame for that.

• Dan says:

  2 Apr2 April 12:41

  Keen to hear fellow readers view on Gift Cards…

  I have been taking advantage of the Morrisons Amex offer and hold a modest amount (very modest in fact if I compare it to many people on here) in Morrisons GCs.

  I generally feel quite uneasy holding money in GC format for obvious reasons so have preferred Amazon as I can reload my account and the money sits rather than other gift cards where there is potential for losing the physical card.

  Is this the same for everyone else, or are there other retailers that are 99% risk free, and have an option for the gift card to be loaded online in an account?

  • FlyingChris says:

    2 Apr2 April 12:45

    You could always offload via CardYard. Yes they’ll take a 10% cut (on Amazon) – but if you are double/triple dipping then the economics might still work for you and you don’t have to worry about having your money tied up in GCs.

    • Char Char says:

      2 Apr2 April 15:43

      Obviously that is pointless with a 10% cost!

      • FlyingChris says:

        2 Apr2 April 17:21

        Depends on the offers available to you. If you are able to stack Airtime Rewards (10%) + Virgin Money (10%) + Virgin Shops (8p/£) + Morrisons More Points + Standard Virgin Credit Card Spend (that also counts towards annual voucher) – you might find that 10% CardYard hit is worth it to not tie your money up in Gift Cards as you’ll still be +10% net up before even counting the points.

  • 747_Brat says:

    2 Apr2 April 14:29

    @Dan
    If you are after the risk free gift cards options, One4All gift cards are fairly secure too. They are backed by Bank of Ireland, and therefore have a solid backing.

    In the past, you could use One4All to top-up Amazon balance, but that is not an option anymore. But you could use them at more that 100 retailers online or in-store.

    The only downside to them is that they are non-reloadable and you need to have the whole balance available to cover the cost of your purchase. You can’t split the payments online, but you probably can in-store.

    • Ryan says:

      2 Apr2 April 14:35

      And you can cash O4A gift cards for £7.50 a card… 😉

      • Memesweeper says:

        2 Apr2 April 14:47

        Really?

        • Ryan says:

          2 Apr2 April 19:26

          Not usually worth it as a large % fee

      • Rob says:

        2 Apr2 April 15:59

        For clarity – see Clause 6 https://www.one4all.com/terms-conditions

    • Dan says:

      2 Apr2 April 18:30

      @747_Brat – Thanks will look into One4All as I’ve never went down that route. So I could use one of these gift cards online with a retailer that is covered?

      I’;ve found that some 3rd party gift cards that Morrisons sell only work in store (e.g. B&Q and Boots etc.) so this would be a massive advantage…

      • 747_Brat says:

        2 Apr2 April 19:25

        Here’s the list of retailers where One4All gift cards is accepted – both online and in-store:

        https://www.one4all.com/retailer.html

        • Rob says:

          2 Apr2 April 21:03

          Once Nectar transfers restart, there is a little game I plan to try out (as suggested by a reader).

          12,500 Avios to 20,000 Nectar
          20,000 Nectar to £100 Viking gift voucher
          £100 Viking gift voucher to £100 One4All gift card (and earn Nectar back?)
          £100 One4All gift card redeemed for £92.50 cash after a £7.50
          Gets you 0.74p per Avios for cash ….

        • Jonty says:

          3 Apr3 April 07:08

          I find one4all gift cards often don’t work in store. Till assistant says it’s not scanning. It’s always been for trivial amounts so I’ve just paid using something else.

  • Harry T says:

    2 Apr2 April 14:44

    Top up your Netflix balance if you pay for that. You can potentially add credit to John Lewis website (might have to do a refund) but I wouldn’t recommend it, as it stops you being able to use them at Waitrose. Why not just keep them as Morrison’s gift cards until you want to exchange them, and keep them in a safe drawer with the receipts?

    • Jonathan says:

      2 Apr2 April 15:48

      I’d be wary of holding substantial sums in Morri’s in case they wise up & stop selling 3rd party GC’s (or the decent ones like Amazon/JLP/Curry’s). I’ve got no interest in eating £500 worth of Frankie & Benny’s!

      • TGLoyalty says:

        2 Apr2 April 17:00

        £500 would last me about 3 weeks worth of shopping.

        • Dan says:

          2 Apr2 April 18:28

          @TG Loyalty. True, but the Morrisons GC don’t work with online shops only in store. which a bit of pain and limitation.

      • Dan says:

        2 Apr2 April 18:27

        Thanks that was what I was thinking. What is the risk of holding Morrisons GC vs other retailer’s fist cards – I guess Morrisons one have a little bit more risk due to the potential for the rule change on 3rd party gift card but you get flexibility. Amazon etc. Would have no flexibility (locked in) at all but will get peace of mind.

  • peter says:

    2 Apr2 April 18:06

    You could try selling them on free platforms like Gumtree etc. obviously handling payments will be down to you but may be worth considering it? Also depends if you were just for points – so able to sell them 10% off, or want to make money to cover your time and trips.. family, friends could potentially be the buyers – but that’s something I find hard to do, even recommending someone to Bulb/Octopus with free £50-£100 is surprisingly almost impossible – some people don’t bother with tiny discounts, some suspect a fraud or some sort of bad deal, some never have time for these things.. or like my parents – don’t use Amazon 😀

    • Aston100 says:

      2 Apr2 April 21:20

      Gumtree is full of shysters and scammers. Only ever sell stuff in person / face to face, for cash. And make sure you check that cash for fake notes.

• Soso says:

  2 Apr2 April 12:48

  Quick question on the Barclays Premier avios club. I tried to get the 25,000 points joining fee by upgrading my current account at Regular Barclays to the Premier. Read here that it was possible but was told no over the phone. Did anyone manage to do it ?

  • Nadeshka says:

    2 Apr2 April 13:37

    Not exactly the same situation, but I currently have a joint premier account, and opened a new solo premier account and executed the switch from an old account languishing elsewhere.
    I wasn’t expecting but my app is showing 25000 pending avios to transfer on top of the first month rewards.

    So their systems aren’t sophisticated enough to withhold avios to all existing account holders. Perhaps rather than upgrading the exist account, opening premier as a new one and doing the switch from a different external might be more likely to trigger the bonus?

• John says:

  2 Apr2 April 14:02

  https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9430169/Cruises-MONTH-Royal-Caribbean-launches-vaccine-passport-scheme.html

  Actually a lot to see in Belfast/Northern Ireland generally, although Covid restrictions being lifted at a different pace to other UK regions.

  Would suggest BA or EI (or Stena) rather than cruise ship, then Translink public transport.

  Crossing the border to ROI currently not likely to be appreciated by Garda though.

• Baji Nahid says:

  2 Apr2 April 14:08

  I have a BA ticket. I want to give to my friend to use the flight as its no use to me. Can we pay for the ticket to have the name changed on it from my name to my friends name? Is this something that BA allows (for a fee)?

  • 747_Brat says:

    2 Apr2 April 14:41

    You can change the name if you are within the 24 hour cooling off period. But you can’t after that. You might find this useful:

    https://www.britishairways.com/travel/askbainter/public/en_gb?p_faqid=3329

  • ChrisC says:

    2 Apr2 April 17:29

    Very few airlines allow this. The most they generally allow is a minor correction to a misspelt name for free and that’s it.

    Ryanair charges £115!

    I don’t even think you can use it to pay for a flight for someone else if you convert it to a voucher.

    • Brian W says:

      2 Apr2 April 23:48

      I’ve used an e-voucher to book for someone else recently (January) so this does work.

• The Streets says:

  2 Apr2 April 14:48

  Anyone else received a phone call from Indigo Bath saying the Vaults Suite Rooms are no longer available due to “delayed construction works because of COVID” – I booked on the special offer last year and now they are trying to move me to a Premium Room

  • Harry T says:

    2 Apr2 April 14:49

    Maybe they are fed up with people block booking all the summer weekends with points bookings when they could sell them for cash!

  • Gareth says:

    2 Apr2 April 15:21

    When were you booked in for?

    • The Streets says:

      2 Apr2 April 15:38

      End of May – this was the 30,000 points deal for the king suite vault room. Weighing up what I am going to do. Of course they said that they don’t mind if I cancel my booking

      • Jonathan says:

        2 Apr2 April 15:53

        One to suck up IMHO. Not sure you’d have much grounds to escalate if they’re offering choice of next best room or a refund. I recall mixed reviews on the suites anyway, seemed like a clever marketing ploy to be able to sell basement rooms.

      • A says:

        2 Apr2 April 15:55

        Tell them: (a) you’ll keep the reservation for now abs reassess later; (b) that if this situation is true later, you’re happy to swap to a different date at the same rate for a later date of your choice give that they’re the ones messing you around, and (c) that if you see them subsequently selling that room for cash for your dates you’ll know they’ve been screwing your around

        • Jonathan says:

          2 Apr2 April 16:26

          As we enter a period when U.K. “luxury” hotel bookings will be as strong as they’ve ever been I think they’d just laugh at b) & c). It was a bank error in The Streets favour & even now is still a very good deal. Just take it on the chin.

          It’s not IHG you’re playing hardball with but a small hotel group (~5 hotels) who made a £3million loss last year & in-spite of that have opened a well regarded hotel that they spent a small fortune refurbishing.

        • The Streets says:

          2 Apr2 April 17:41

          It’s not the end of the world but I also booked a second room with the free IHG reward night. I think that was the voucher which was expiring at the end of 2020. I don’t think I’ll be seeing that voucher again if we cancel the second room

        • ChrisC says:

          2 Apr2 April 17:48

          They won’t laugh when there is a trading standards complaint against them where they would have to justify cancelling a points booking because of ‘building work’ yet can miraculously sell the same room for cash.

  • Peter K says:

    2 Apr2 April 16:34

    It may be genuine for a certain point of view. When I was there at the end of October and had a tour of the hotel most of the vaults were not complete.
    It’s possible they are still not complete and they are prioritising cash bookings.

    • TGLoyalty says:

      2 Apr2 April 17:02

      They should be prioritising whoever booked first.

      I had a call 2 months ago asking if my travel in May was essential (before Boris even announced his roadmap)

      My guess is they are trying to free rooms for cash!

      • Jonathan says:

        2 Apr2 April 18:16

        Why should they prioritise the person who made a booking that will generate about £50 vs one that brings in £500 if the building work has been delayed by circumstances completely outside their control?

        I’d point out again that they are a small business not IHG. Making a complaint to trading standards in this scenario is pathetic.

        • TGLoyalty says:

          3 Apr3 April 16:41

          You are either part of the scheme or not

          You either value loyal customers or you don’t.

          And you not them have no idea how much I spend when I stay on points but if it’s a UK hotel they’d be getting £100’s of extras from my stays.

          As a business they are free to do what they want but if I hear of any business Kicking out guests, no matter how they paid, for others that will pay more I’ll take my own business elsewhere.

          Reputation is sometimes worth more than a few hundred quid.

  • Lady London says:

    2 Apr2 April 19:35

    Why not just write back and say that’s fine provided another suite is available to be allocated to you instead?

    This looks very flakey and I would not agree to be moved from a suite to any sort of room instead.

  • Mr. AC says:

    3 Apr3 April 00:05

    Personal opinion (stayed in 4 rooms at that hotel, 2 premium and 2 suites, all on points, cheers Rob!): Some of the Premium Rooms are, hands down, better than the Vault Suits in almost all respects. E.g. 416 is large, high ceiling, has beautiful floor to ceiling windows with a view. The only thing that’s worse is the bath can fit only 1 instead of 2 people at the same time.
    Vault suites are nice, but they actually feel cramped (while being nominally larger), and there’s no view.
    Premium room for me any day.

    • TGLoyalty says:

      3 Apr3 April 16:43

      I’ll agree with this in principal because I’ve found Not every suite is worth the upgrade.

      As suggested I would write back and ask to be allocated one of the best standard rooms of those dates are set in stone.

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